One Hour Beer Butt Chicken

One Hour Beer Butt Chicken. It only takes an hour at high heat to infuse flavour into the dry rubbed chicken, while giving it a little tasty char on the skin and yielding a juicy, succulent result.

One Hour Beer Butt Chicken.

Originally published August 2016.

Beer Butt Chicken has become a summer staple BBQ meal, it seems: even my dad makes it. When I first heard of it some 20 years ago, I thought it would be a passing novelty.

Looking at Pinterest the other day, there’s no doubt that the unusual cooking method is undoubtedly here to stay.

One Hour Beer Butt Chicken.

There are many different ways to prepare beer butt chicken. When I posted a photo of my favourite beer butt chicken version on my Facebook page the other day, a friend asked me to write a post outlining just how I did it. 

One Hour Beer Butt Chicken

Like in my favourite One Hour Roast Chicken recipe, I think that quick cooking at high temperature is actually what works best for this recipe.

The high heat seals the skin and partly chars the spice rub on the skin for extra flavour while the meat always stays moist and tender inside. Our family just loves it.

One Hour Beer Butt Chicken

You don’t, of course, have to use beer if you choose not to; a pop can half filled with chicken stock or even water plus the thyme and garlic will be equally delicious. 

This recipe again uses my Smokin’ Summer Spice Dry Rub which we use on everything from the smoker and grill during the summer; beef, chicken, pork or lamb. It’s a delicious seasoning for steaks, ribs and burgers too. I guarantee you won’t regret making a batch to have on hand at all times.

All finished!

July 2018 update. There is a link to my Smokin’ Summer pice Dry Rub in the post itself but I’ve added the link to the ingredient list as well for convenience.

We continue to enjoy this recipe all summer long and had it again just this week; this time over indirect heat on my Weber Charcoal Kettle Grill. The extra smoky flavour makes it even better.

Beer Butt Chicken shown in a Weber Kettle Grill/Smoker.

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One Hour Beer Butt Chicken

Yield: 6 servings or 4 for larger appetites.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Resting time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

One Hour Beer Butt Chicken - it only takes an hour at high heat to infuse flavour into the dry rubbed chicken, while giving it a little tasty char on the skin and yielding a juicy, succulent result.

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Ingredients

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• 3 pounds whole fresh chicken
• Smokin Summer Spice Dry Rub
• 6 ounces beer, or chicken stock or water
• 2 cloves sliced garlic
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme, sage or oregano are good too
• 6 peppercorns

Instructions

1. Trim any excess skin and fat from the chicken. Tie the legs together with butcher string and tie the wings to the body of the bird as well with a single length of butcher string as pictured.
2. Sprinkle the dry rub generously over the entire surface of the chicken.
3. Add the beer, garlic, thyme and peppercorns to a standard 12 ounce beer or soda can.
4. Carefully invert the cavity of the chicken over the can and then place it in a shallow baking dish or metal pan.
5. Preheat gas grill to 450 degrees. I use indirect heat for this method. My gas BBQ grill has 3 burners, so I only turn on the two at the sides and leave the one on the centre off, which is where I palace the pan to hold the chicken/s).
6. Close the cover and watch the temperature gauge for a few minutes. Regulate the temperature to around 450 degrees but no lower than 425.
7. Cook for one hour until the skin is crispy and the chicken registers 180 degrees on a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the breast or thigh.
8. Remove from the BBQ and let the chicken rest for 10-15 minutes before carving and serving.

Notes

I also often smoke this chicken at about 400-425 degrees in a charcoal kettle grill.  I do it over indirect heat, with the charcoal fire on one side and the chicken/s on the other.

I use a smoke box filled with chips placed over the fire to create the smoke. Hickory or Mesquite are my favourites but you can use any wood chips you like.

You can still smoke the chicken on a gas grill, just put the smoke box filled with wood chips under the racks on the v shaped flame deflectors that most gas grills have.

The chicken, of course is still over indirect heat as described in the recipe.

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The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

6 servings
Amount Per Serving Calories 502Total Fat 34gSaturated Fat 9gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 170mgSodium 160mgCarbohydrates 1gProtein 42g

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